Apply for naturalisation (from ILR) and travel abroad while waiting for decision?

[dori_fish]

Hi All,

Apologies if this has already been asked before, but I couldn't find any recent answers on this so thought I'd write this post.

I am looking to apply for naturalisation / British citizenship soon, as I will have been granted my ILR for a year shortly. I understand that the original physical BRP card and passport need to be sent in as part of the application form - however, I have intermittent travel requirement until end of year.. Is there any way to be able to travel while awaiting the application to be granted please? I understand the decision could take up to 6 months..

Based on my research, I could also see that there used to be a National Checking Service that would allow photocopy documents to be certified and sent off, so that the actual BRP card and passport could be retained for travel purposes. I just checked but the government no longer seems to offer this:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... g-services

Are there other bodies who could certify the documents so I could retain the physical copies? Any ideas / thoughts at all would be much appreciated! Thank you.

[CR001]

NCS is no longer available. You can apply using the new UKVCAS service though and keep hold of your original documents.

indefinite-leave-to-remain/online-appli ... 70084.html

[dori_fish]

Thank you so much!

[Nerazzuri]

As someone who travels, make sure you were physically in the UK on the date exactly 5 years before the day you hit the submit button on your application. Example, if you submit on January 31st 2019, you must have been in the UK on January 31st 2014.

[dori_fish]

As someone who travels, make sure you were physically in the UK on the date exactly 5 years before the day you hit the submit button on your application. Example, if you submit on January 31st 2019, you must have been in the UK on January 31st 2014.

Thanks that's very helpful!